Rebel Reborn
by shamrock920
Summary: After TCOR. What happens when Kyra's soul can't be found in the Underverse and she's reincarnated? Jack's not gone, Riddick's not nice and Kyra's tossed into the mix. COMPLETE.
1. Gone Missing

**Disclaimer: The Riddick Universe does not belong to me, it belongs to who made the movies, who created the idea and produced it. Not me! **

**1. **

**Gone Missing**

"Bring her back!" He roared at the Underverse attendants, who visibly winced and backed away from his wrath. "Now!" He settled back down onto his throne, giving the attendants a little breathing room.

"My lord, those fortunate souls who have already made the passage cannot be brought back." One bravely said, bowing deeply.

"Have you tried?" He asked, anger barely restrained.

"My lord?" A question.

"Have you ever tried to bring someone back from the Underverse?" He asked again, his voice quieter.

"Well, no, but you must-"

"Then try for fuck's sake." He snarled, standing. "Get out!"

They all quickly left, surprisingly graceful for being so filled with fear. When the last of their black and grey metallic robes whispered off the floor, Riddick sat back down onto the throne and bowed his head. What he would do to bring Jack back. Looking up and observing the morbid decoration, he knew that he would do anything to have her by his side again.

"He will not be pleased by this." One Underverse attendant whispered to another, looking at the results of the soul-scan.

"We must tell him, it is our duty to tell the Lord Marshall anything and everything we discover!" The other hissed back, but inside he too was disturbed. Never should they have received this result.

"But it undermines everything we know to be truth!" The other shot back, trying to keep his voice down.

"Truth or not, we must tell him!"

"Tell him what?" A smooth voice slipped from the shadows and both attendants hastily turned and saluted Vaako. He had become colder and more ruthless then he had been under the previous Lord Marshall's rule. His first request of the new Lord Marshall had been to get rid of Dame Vaako. No one had forgotten the sneer and laugh that had echoed off of the throne room's walls from their new Lord. With her gone and killed before her due time, Vaako became a greater warrior, and completely unrestrained. Not only that, but the new lord had seen this and come to bring Vaako as his personal second in command.

"The results of a soul-scan, Lord Vaako." One quickly said, bowing.

"A soul-scan? For who?" He questioned, his mind beginning to whir with answers and questions.

"The dead woman that our Lord Marshall wishes to be alive again." The other supplied, glancing back at the results.

"And? What are these undermining results?" Vaako asked, a little frustrated at their lack of helpfulness.

The door closed and Vaako let out a sigh of relief. He wasn't one to always follow the required manners of being in his high status.

"Survive another day of boredom?" Riddick asked, standing in front of a window that looked out into the black space. Vaako walked through Riddick's personal rooms, standing a few feet behind the other man. He inwardly prided himself on the fact that he was the only person allowed into Riddick's personal rooms.

"Barely. You did say we would continue conquering, didn't you?" He asked, eyeing the decanter of wine on a black marble table that remained untouched.

"Drink it. And maybe." Riddick turned around, watching Vaako gracefully pour wine from the heavy decanter into a glass. He paused over the second glass and Riddick shook his head. "You have information for me?"

Vaako sighed and sipped the rich wine, the taste not lost on him as it was on many other Nercomongers. It was not that becoming half-dead took away the ability to taste; it was the refusal of the half-dead to indulge themselves in rich food and drink that dulled their ability to taste.

"It isn't of the best kind." He started, setting down the glass. "You know what a soul-scan is, yes?"

"Vaguely."

"It is a surprisingly easy process, but it is a scan of Necromonger souls, or what is left of our souls, that have passed into the Underverse. We search for passed on souls, making sure they are securely there. You must realize that every converted soul goes to the Underverse. For ones we wish to contact, we lure them, it isn't easy, but it can be done. They were hoping to find her soul and lure it back to the Passage."

"Passage?" Riddick asked, his thoughts darkening.

"The exact point at which every Necromonger soul passes into the Underverse. It is as much a spiritual point as a physical point, very hard to track."

"It moves?"

"No, but it has the ability to disappear and remain completely under our searching radars."

Riddick nodded for Vaako to continue.

"They did a scan. More then once. Riddick,"

He sharply glanced up at his warrior companion and second in command.

"She isn't there."


	2. Found?

**2.**

**Found?**

"What the fuck…" Kyra groaned as she rolled over, her sore muscles burning as she moved. "Where the hell am I?" She lay on her back and suddenly memories came flooding back and her hands frantically looked for the hole that the spike in the Necromonger throne room should have left. It was gone.

Ignoring all pain, she lifted her head and propped herself up on her elbows and realized she was still in the clothes that she had been wearing when she was in Crematoria. She tried not to think too hard about what was happening and just observe her surroundings.

Kyra pulled herself into a sitting position, noting that her pain was rapidly disappearing. She rubbed her neck, realizing that the scars from the Necromonger conversion were gone. The one thing she really tried not to concentrate on was that fact that she should be dead and wandering around in the Underverse.

"Hello?" She called out, shakily standing up. "Hello!" She shouted this time and there was still no answer. Glancing around, she realized she was in a very large field and there was a dirt road winding through it. A few trees stood out on the otherwise continuous landscape.

"Hi!" A voice at her hip made her jump and turn around and she stared at herself. Herself, but herself at about eight years old. Her hair was wavy instead of curled like hers, but her eyes were still the same and her skin still tan.

"Uh, hi." She said back, vaguely realizing that this smaller form of herself slipped her hand into hers and held tight.

"What's your name?" The younger one asked.

"Kyra. Yours?" She grinned down at her younger self.

"Jack!" She said proudly.

"Nice to meet you, Jack. Can you tell me where we are?" Kyra asked, glancing up again. But this time she found herself looking for any threats. She had barely met Jack and was already protecting her.

"You don't know?" Jack asked, making Kyra look down at her. "We're in my dreams, silly!"

"Woah." Jack said after a few minutes of silence. She leaned against the tree trunk, feeling Kyra watch her from her branch above her.

"Couldn't of said it better myself." She replied, stretching out on the thick branch.

They had been talking for a very long time, but neither really had a sense of time, so they could only guess. Kyra had broached the subject of her being Jack but older carefully, after they had settled down at the tree. Knowing herself, she had pointed out how she had the exact same scars as Jack had. There were other things like how she was double-jointed with one hand, but not the other. Jack had believed her, but then tested Kyra with memories that she could easily answer.

"And…you're dead?" Jack asked, looking up into the tree.

"Well, I think so. I think that instead of my soul going to the Underverse-"

"You mean that creepy place with Lord Mushroom?"

"Lord Marshall," Kyra corrected, "and yeah. I think instead of my soul going there it went here, like, I am reincarnated as…myself? Have you ever seen me in your dreams before?" She asked.

"Na-uh, never. Well, I think I might've heard your voice…but that's it." Jack looked deeply thoughtful.

"My voice?" Kyra cocked her head to the side and wondered what she was talking about.

"Yeah, you see, I used to have this nightmares about this dark planet…with scary monsters, with big-" she looked up at Kyra who looked suddenly very pale. "You have them?"

Kyra nodded.

"Well, this big guy…reminded me of the earth monkeys I saw at a zoo once…he had these weird goggles and instead of hands he had like…claws or something. He would get rid of them and then I would have nice dreams."

"I know who you're talking about." Kyra said, smiling softly.

"And then I would hear someone singing…it was your voice I think. I can hum it! Wanna hear?" Jack was bouncing with excitement.

"Sure." Kyra said, grinning at her younger self. Her grin faded into a thoughtful look as she heard the song. She knew it very well, it was something her mother had sung to her when she was little and the same song she sang to herself when she was in Crematoria.

"Know it?"

"Sure do." Kyra swung down from the branch and leaned against the tree, raising her eyebrow as Jack scrambled onto her lap. She lightly hugged Jack to herself and she could feel the calm contentedness coming from her.

"I think someone's trying to wake me up," Jack said, looking vaguely annoyed.

"Alright, you can go wake up. Just do me a favor, ok?" Kyra asked, smiling at Jack.

"You betcha I can! What is it?" She asked.

"Listen to the news of what's going on in the universe, if you hear anything about the Necromongers, remember it and tell me, k?" Kyra ruffled Jack's hair who grinned.

"That'll be easy!"

"Good. See you later then." Kyra stood up and glanced at the endless fields, looking down to see Jack gone. "Well, time to explore."

**Thanks for the reviews! Personal thanks will come later, I just want to keep churning out the story. **


	3. Without Mercy

**3. **

**Without Mercy**

"M'lords, all the towns are burned and demolished. As ordered." A warrior saluted and waited for the next command.

"Any worthy of conversion?" Vaako looked up from the planning holograms, his cold glance hardening the warrior's defenses.

"Barely." He replied.

"You know the drill, Nawkon, weed, herd and shackle," Riddick looked up finally, his glare softer but without emotion. It was rumored that Lord Riddick had no soul to go to the Underverse.

"M'lords," Nawkon bowed and stepped back, leaving the strategy rooms.

Vaako watched his companion move about the room, as if trying to find something. He had seen the ex-convict rise from depression and become the ruthless being he was meant to be. He was a hard ruler, a born leader and definitely no kind paternal figure to anyone.

"Vaako, tell me something." Riddick requested, leaning against the edge of the map table. "What are we doing?"

"Are you in another depression, _Lord_ Riddick?" He smiled slightly as he said the time, making Riddick chuckle. He had caused a near Necromonger population conniption when he announced that he would have an equal, not a second in command. Both he and Vaako were addressed as 'Lord', something they used to mock each other in private.

"Do I look like the Lord Marshall's harem?" Riddick returned, making Vaako laugh. It was no small secret that the private mistresses of the previous Lord Marshall were near suicidal with depression because neither Vaako nor Riddick would use them. When they did, none of the women would want to be used because Riddick was known to be as ruthless in bed as he was in the field. A complete animal, one of the surviving women had said. Vaako on the other hand preferred to use them then test poisons or drugs on the women and many less women lived to see the next day.

"Ah, my friend. What will I tell you this time? You ask this every time we conquer a new terrain. With every furthering of the frontier and the known universe, you ask 'what are we doing'? Is conquering a philosophy, Riddick?" Vaako smirked and sat on a nearby chair, a thin drapery covering it.

"We conquer land and souls, Vaako. What use of this do I have?" Riddick sharpened an old shiv that he refused to let go.

"We do this to expand the empire. Count it by planets, people, deaths, whatever pleases you the most, but from a full scope, we are creating an empire." Vaako avoided Riddick's last question.

"Answer it, Vaako," Riddick growled, his silver eyes glinting in the dark room.

"To further-"

"Our resources and become self-sufficient, yes, you've said this many times." Riddick waved off his first answer.

"It satisfies your animalistic need to make everyone around you feel inferior, your inner desire to have people to exterminate by the millions if it pleases you." Vaako ventured, never wanting to verbally acknowledge the pleased glint Riddick got in his eyes when another planet was tied under his control.

"Now that wasn't so hard, was it?" Riddick remarked, standing up again. "Thank you, Vaako."

"As _m'lord_ commands." He mock bowed, as the court gossipers did, trying to gain Riddick and Vaako's favor.

"Well, if m'lady insists, we'll get her back to her cushions and makeup paints as soon as possible," Riddick shot back and Vaako sneered.

"Are you quite done?" He asked, his pride slowly coming back to life as Riddick focused on his plans.

"Hn. Let's get out of here by sun up. We should keep moving." Riddick nodded at a system that was only holographic dots the size of a grain of sand at the edge of the maps. "How long will it take to reach there?"

"Give or take, three or four months. This is if you conquer every system between this one and that." Vaako added and Riddick nodded.

"Let's get started, then."

"GRAWR!" Jack threw herself over the banister, taking her father completely by surprise. He caught her just in time, inwardly relieved but laughing all the same.

"The mighty huntress has caught her prey!" He joked and Jack clambered onto his back, hugging him from behind.

"HI DAD!" She shouted in his ear and he winced slightly. He attempted to consol himself by saying that this behavior could have never come from his side of the family.

"Hi to you too, Jackie. Mom in?" He asked, looking over his shoulder at his daughter.

"Yep, yep. In the kitchen." She replied and got off her dad's back when he set her down at the back door.

"Go outside and play for a while." He said, turning away.

"I wanna be with you!" She nearly whined.

"Alright, you can come only after you do one thing. Catch fifteen butterflies and four rabbits. Can you do that or is that too hard?" He looked down at her and she grinned.

"You got it!" Jack bounded out the back door and into the garden.

A few minutes had passed and she had only caught nine butterflies, having a recapture a few because she could only hold them in her hands. Jack sat on the grass and played with them, naming them and watching them flutter lightly around her. Just as she thought it would be a nice time to take a nap, a word floated out to her from the open kitchen window.

She quietly got up and snuck over to beneath the window and crouched, shushing the butterflies that followed her. They continued to lazily float around her, but she stopped paying attention to them.

"We can't just move, Mark, where will we go that they won't go to?" Her mother's voice sounded worried, something Jack didn't like at all.

"It's better then staying here! Haven't you seen what those Necromongers have done?" Her father's voice was tense.

"I know exactly what they do. But if we move Jack will ask why and what are we going to say? I won't lie to her!" Her mother was shushed by her dad.

"We've got to consider it. I mean, the longer we keep her away from that sort of life, the better! We can't let her live that life." Her dad continued. "Just look at her out there, playing with the-"

"Oh my god, where is she? Jack! Jack!" Her mother ran from the kitchen and out the back door, the screen door banging against the house. Jack crept to the side of the house and came back running.

"Mom?" She called, catching her mother's attention.

"Jackie! Where were you?" She was worried still. But it wasn't just about the brief disappearance of her.

"I was chasing butterflies like dad asked. They went to the other side of the house, so I followed." She sounded innocent and her mother hugged her briefly.

"Tell me before you do that, alright?" She hugged Jack again, kneeling the grass. Jack hugged her back and looked over her should to see her father's dark and troubled gaze watching them from the porch. Her mom pulled back and kissed Jack's forehead. "Go in and wash up, dinner will be ready soon."

"Ok, scuse me Dad." She said, passing him and going into the house. She ran up to the second floor and went into the bathroom, soaking a small towel and squeezing it. Jack quietly stood at the top of the steps and heard her parents being busy with dinner, so she snuck into their room and hurried to the computer chair.

She sat on it with her legs folded beneath her and waited for the screen to show up. It came up and she quickly moved the mouse around and finally got what she wanted.

"Few more minutes, Jack!" Her mother called up.

"K!" She shouted back down, reading the information one more time before shutting down the computer and leaving her parent's room. Jack put the washcloth back in the bathroom and made sure she looked clean enough before heading downstairs.

She couldn't wait to go to bed tonight, she had a lot to tell Kyra.

**Thanks for the reviews, guys. More chapters to come. **


	4. Courtly Manners

**4. **

**Courtly Manners**

"Vaako, this is…" Riddick was at loss for words. Right in the middle of conquering a system and he tells him that in a few days time, a ball is held.

"Ridiculous, I know. But this is the one thing that keeps Necromongers half-alive. Just, make a brief appearance." Vaako reasoned, feeling the old tug of Necromonger duty.

"I think if I throw the damn thing then I don't have to go," Riddick snapped, leaning back in his chair. Maps, notes and figures were scattered over the desk in front of him.

"By throwing the party you technically invite yourself." Vaako pointed out and Riddick nearly groaned.

"Then you do it. You're my equal in command."

"But you're still the Lord Marshall."

"And as such, I'm _ordering_ you to do it."

"It's your duty to do it," Vaako countered, knowing he was treading on Riddick's last nerves. "Whether you like it or not you _are_ the Lord Marshall and nothing more can be said nor done!"

He didn't even flinch when Riddick suddenly rose from his seat, rounded the desk and was snarling not two inches away from his face.

"Did I _ask_ for this duty? Does it look like I have accepted it? Look at my neck, does it look like I have!" Riddick yelled, his anger flaring.

Vaako closed his eyes briefly, trying to avoid bringing up the topic that the fact Riddick had never truly converted bothered many people of the court. It was almost cause for mutiny.

"Be reasonable and just do it." His voice was ice as he turned and left the room, the door swinging easily on its hinges and slamming into place. The sound echoed strongly through the halls, covering the sounds of his retreating footsteps.

"M'lord Riddick," a tightly dressed woman bowed deeply in front of him. "It's a honor and pleasure to be invited and within your presence tonight."

"As it is an honor to have you with us, Dame Nawkon." Vaako stepped in, his courtly experiences allowing him to properly accept her introduction.

"That is Nawkon's wife?" Riddick asked, his penetrating silver gaze watching her form move into the crowds.

"Yes. Not a mean wisp inside of her, kindness to the core. Strange for someone who is half-dead." Vaako remarked and nodded as another lesser couple passed.

"Vaako, when are we reaching the Hiriv System?" He ignored another sly look of a woman tossed his way.

"Enjoy yourself for once and in by half-sun tomorrow. Relax, take a few women and use them. That is what they're there for," Vaako sounded slightly amused by this idea.

"Pick a few. Most can't last through one round with me," Riddick smirked.

"Trust me, my lordly companion, I've heard it, you don't need to tell me. You think the steel walls would be thick enough, but no." Vaako raked his eyes over the crowds and caught a few glances, motioning for them to come to the throne.

"Your taste is flawless, as is your work," Riddick noted, making Vaako flush in his armor. He knew that Riddick was aware that all compliments made him uncomfortable. Instead he focused on the women sliding their way forward to the throne. All slim were beautiful creatures that Riddick would undoubtedly tear to shreds.

"M'lord, you called?" They all asked simultaneously.

"Yes. Go to room to the left of Lord Riddick's personal rooms. Wait for him there and for your sakes, don't wear yourselves out before he gets there." Vaako said and the women's eyes widened. They knew exactly what was going to happen and Riddick could smell the fear easily.

He gave them a feral grin and one of them looked close to fainting.

"I will see you all later this evening. Go." Riddick ordered and they left quickly.

Not much explanation was needed for the four women who were in the med bay the next day. One was paralyzed from the waist down, her shattered and crushed hips making it impossible to repair or replace. Two were unlikely to make it through the next few hours and one got off with being in a six-hour surgery and many stitches, both interior and exterior. The women of the armada could only hope that he was sated for a while.

"Nawkon would like to speak to you in private." Vaako added before he began to close down the strategy boards and diagrams. Riddick raised an eyebrow and nodded. "I'll send him in then."

Riddick stood over the blank table now, the liquid holographic surface moving like an obsidian pool as he lightly dragged his hand through it. Nawkon entered and bowed, walking forward only when Riddick motioned for him to do so.

"You wished to speak with me?" Riddick asked, subconsciously noting how refined his speech had become. Jack would've laughed at him for it. Purging his dark mind of her memory, he listened to Nawkon.

"-I know I need not fear for your safety, m'lord, but their whisperings and plots should be addressed. They do not realize that any man or woman owes his allegiance and loyalty to the Lord Marshall, regardless of the Lord's acceptance of the faith. They should know that thus any women you wish to bed are yours to bed and can be taken without permission." Nawkon looked straight ahead, his eyes trained and cold.

"Leave their names with Vaako and tell him of the situation. What do you think I should do, Nawkon?" Riddick asked, amused by this turn of events.

"Make them realize." He replied directly.

"Sounds appropriate…as well as not giving limits to punishment. I must do what I must to make them realize, don't I?" Riddick allowed himself a small smirk that let Nawkon smirk as well. "Anything else?"

"Yes…m'lord…it's a matter relating to this." He broached the subject with a quieter tone.

"Speak," Riddick watched Nawkon the same way he had stared down the hellhound in Crematoria.

"What you did with the women, Dame Nawkon, she is…delicate and not of the same…caliber as the women you bedded. It is out of line to ask, yet I fear for her. Could you not ask Dame Nawkon to your bed?" He asked, his voice still strong although Riddick could sense the emotion easily.

"She's safe." Riddick said, nodding slightly.

"Thank you, m'lord." Nawkon bowed deeply. "I will tell Lord Vaako the names." He backed out of the room and door softly closed behind him.

Riddick looked out the window again, watching the black space glide by and wondered how affection between any Necromongers would last. Relaxing slightly, his thoughts touched upon Jack, the way she would laugh and smile.

Suddenly the glass shimmered and her reflection was clear, she smiled and smirked at him. She began to talk and Riddick moved forward, only to find that she changed. Her back was to him but she turned around and a dangerous mix of lust and desire watched him. As he raised his hand to the glass, and inches away she changed again, to the woman she was in Crematoria. As he touched the glass, she disappeared, but he left his hand there, only to pull it back when he heard the door open.

"Riddick, I assume you heard from Nawkon what has been happening among the husbands of…Riddick?" Vaako concentrated on his form that wouldn't move form the window. "Riddick?" He asked again, approaching the still form. Just as he raised his hand, Riddick turned and looked him square in the eye.

"I know. What should we do?"

"Do as he suggested. Besides, a show of power never hurt anyone. Well, before this." Vaako mused and Riddick only smirked slightly.

**That was a little off-plot, but I was in the mood for it. **


	5. To Stay Asleep or Awake

**5.**

**To Stay Asleep or Awake**

"Kyra, I'm afraid," Jack admitted, clinging to Kyra's hand as they walked through the fields. She had been telling her everything about the Necromongers and knew they were eventually going to come to her planet and do what they did do the other ones.

Kyra looked down sadly at Jack. She knew fear as well as she knew her weapons.

"It is what it is, but that doesn't mean you have to sit back and wait for it. Remember what we worked on?" She asked and Jack nodded.

Kyra had realized that she could sometimes step into Jack's thoughts and mind while she was awake. It wasn't quite possessing her younger self's body, but being there. She was working on moving out of her body entirely, as a spirit of sorts. She didn't really know what it was but she knew that if Jack got upset or scared enough, Kyra could come out for just ten seconds or so and actually move and touch things.

"Remember, shout for me, I think it helps me move out." Kyra said and Jack nodded.

"Oh no, wait!" And suddenly Jack was gone. Kyra didn't like this at all.

"JACK! JACK!" She shouted, knowing it wouldn't help. For a second she reappeared and said something that made Kyra freeze.

"They're here!"

And she was gone again.

Focusing everything she had, Kyra moved herself into Jack's awake body and assessed the situation. One night in Crematoria Riddick had described to her what the Necromongers did when they conquered New Mecca. This looked worse if anything.

Breathing deeply, she whispered into Jack's mind, calming her and telling her what to do. She was relieved when Jack immediately paid attention to her and grabbed a knapsack and took some cred chips, imperishable foods and a comm. device. Exactly the way she would've packed, although Jack grabbed her stuffed animal at the last second, putting it in the bag. She dressed quickly, too, putting on a green tank top and rain pants, which were similar to cargo pants, but waterproof. She pulled on socks and her snow boots, since she didn't have any combat boots like Kyra did. Kyra smiled at the pride she felt from Jack and urged her to keep going, it wouldn't be safe where she was much longer.

Kyra could only watch what happened, she had no control, not yet.

"Mommy! Daddy!" Jack shouted, running down the hallway into her parents' room. They were packing too and her father scooped her up and put her on the bed.

"Jackie, it's going to be alright. We've just got to stick together." Her dad said, kissing her forehead. "We gotta go, hon."

"Packed! Let's get out of here," her mom said and they went down the stairs together and out the back door. "Jack, we're going to run, ok? If you get tired, tell us."

"Yep." She nodded and followed her parents as they ran through other backyards, heading towards the forest.

Thankfully they didn't have to cross any major roads, but they could already hear troops marching through the streets. Gunfire and explosions surrounded them.

_Jack,_ Kyra said in her mind, _listen to me. Don't go in the forest, they have searchers there already. _

"Mommy! Daddy! I don't wanna go in the forest!" Jack said, stopping suddenly. Her parents stopped a few feet away from her.

"Sweetie, this isn't the time, we've got to go in!" Her dad said, taking her hand and pulling it.

"NO! It's not-"

A man suddenly burst from the forest, running as fast as he could and suddenly his body was jerking with bullets riddling through it. A blast tore through the forest and directly into his head, exploding it completely.

Kyra could feel the complete dread that froze Jack's body. Of all ways to see first death, this was one of the worst.

_Don't clam up, Jack, don't! Keep going! Run!_ Kyra said in her mind and she felt the adrenaline starting up. _Good, now get out of there!_

Before she even started moving, the creak and whine of a falling tree split the air and a large pine hit the ground. Instincts taking the better of her, Jack jumped into its branches that were facing away from the dead man and hid. Soldiers came through the trees before she could shout for her parents to hide and took one short look at them. Jack bit her lip and tried not to make a sound as the soldier raised his gun and fired twice, taking down both her father and mother.

_Jack, shh, it's going to be alright. I know it seems bad now, but it is going to be ok. Just stay hidden and breathe deeply, try not to make noise, they'll hear it. Shh, it's ok. I'm here._ Kyra did all she could to comfort her for now. Beneath her comfort an old friend was awakening.

Her animal was dormant while she was in Jack's mind, but seeing what Jack was going through woke it up. It had a visit to pay Riddick.

"Kyra!" Jack flung herself into Kyra's arms, immediately beginning to sob. Kyra sat down in the field and soothed her best she could, stroking her hair and rocking her back and forth. Inwardly she knew that it was bad for Jack's physical form to be sleeping, but Jack had hid herself very well and no one would fine her unless they had those searchers she saw in Crematoria or someone moved the tree.

"Shh, it's ok, Jack. It's going to be alright. Look at me?" She asked and sniffling, Jack looked up and met Kyra's gentle green eyes with her liquid emerald ones, sparkling with tears. Kyra wiped away her tears and kissed her forehead, hugging her again.

They sat for a few silent minutes, Kyra keeping Jack calm. Finally she spoke and Kyra listened intently.

"Kyra, you said Riddick wasn't bad. I mean, you said he did bad things but he wasn't a bad person." Jack said and Kyra had a sinking feeling she knew where this was going.

"Yes, I did."

"So why did he kill mommy and daddy? In church, the man in the robes says that killing people is a very bad thing and the person who does it is evil. I don't understand." Kyra sighed, she was going to have to take the short route.

"Two things. One, I haven't seen Riddick in a long time, it makes me upset, but I think he could've changed. I can only hope he is a good man doing bad things. Two, if God really existed, would he let this happen?"

Kyra wanted to hit herself for trying to take up a theological debate when Jack's home planet was being torn up and conquered.

"No…I didn't think God was real anyway, but I didn't tell my parents cause they would say I was wrong." Jack said, taking it surprisingly well. But Kyra remembered how early she believed that there could be no higher power.

"Why do you say that?"

"Cause if God was real, I could touch him."

The most matter of fact straight-forward answer Kyra had ever heard.

"Good. Now, you going to be ok?" She looked down at Jack again who nodded vigorously. "Alright, let's go."


	6. Tempt not the Tigress

**6. **

**Tempt not the Tigress **

"We're finally on Hiriv Prime and all you can do is watch? Why don't we go out and look around? You've been wanting to conquer this system for months now," Vaako said, watching Riddick carefully observing his army's work.

He grunted in response and started walking, Vaako following him.

"Why is this system so important to you?" Vaako asked, striding alongside Riddick.

"Something's here." Riddick said, sniffing the wind. Yes, something was definitely here that he wanted to find.

Jack hid behind another demolished wall, peeking over the side of it. No one was there, but it was a long stretch until another outcropping she could hide behind.

Suddenly a shadow covered her and she looked up and saw a solider. She lost no time in jumping over part of the wall and sprinting, her bag bouncing on her back. She skid around a corner and another one, keeping the armada main ship as her target. She could hear soldiers running after her, but she was smaller and faster.

_Right!_ Kyra shouted in her mind and she sharply turned, continuing to run through the small winding alley. _See that window sill? Climb, climb up the building. I know you can do it. _

Convincing herself it wasn't much different than climbing a tree in her back yard, she scrambled up onto the sill and kept going up the small apartment levels. Jack gripped her fingers in the small spaces between the bricks, climbing farther up. She didn't pay attention to the soldiers below who couldn't find her as she grabbed the top ledge and pulled herself up.

_Very good. Take a breather, you'll be safe up here. _

She sat until she got her wind back, then stood up and walked to the other edge of the roof. She could see beneath her a square that was quickly filling up with lined troops. Beyond them was the armada. Going to the corner, she lay down on the roof and watched through a hole in the bricks that served as drainage. Finally they finished and not much later two men walked into the square and she felt Kyra growl.

_That's him, the one with the goggles. _

Jack nodded and watched what was happening. She didn't notice how the direction of the wind had suddenly changed, but when Kyra did, it was already too late.

Riddick's head snapped up and stared at the exact spot that Jack was hiding in. He moved forward, motioning for the other man to stay put with the troops. She gulped as she saw him take out the two knives she once thought were claws and using them, started to scale the building.

_Back up slowly, don't run. I'll take care of this. Just, remember what we worked on. _

Jack slowly moved back on her hands, still staying seated on the roof. Soon enough, the fearsome bulk that was Riddick crouched on the corner of the roof. He sniffed and growled deep at her.

"Scared?" He asked, not moving from his perch.

"No." Jack said weakly, wondering what Kyra was going to do.

"And why's that? Someone's gonna protect you, kid?" He asked and Jack was surprised at the flare of rage she felt inside herself, but she knew it was from Kyra.

"Yeah. And she's gonna whoop your butt." Jack said defiantly, glaring at him.

Suddenly he was looming over her and she saw his knife coming from behind. Panic took over as she realized he was holding her down with one of his feet and about to grab her neck with his other hand. As he did, she screamed and didn't notice how the name made Riddick startle.

"KYRA!" She screamed and she felt her leave her body and watched in amazement as an invisible force easily pushed Riddick off her and to the edge of the building. Before Riddick could land a blow of his own, Jack saw a wisp of a form jump in the air and with a roundhouse, kicked Riddick clean off his feet and off the roof.

She gasped as Kyra suddenly re-inhabited her.

_You ok? He didn't hurt you did he?_

Jack shook her head, still slightly breathless.

_Now, how cool was that, Jack?_

Vaako sprinted as Riddick fell from the building. He too had witnessed the strange force that had easily beaten Riddick and kicked him off the roof of the building. But flicking out a shiv, he caught it in the wall of the building and it stopped his fall. Riddick easily made his way down the rest of the building, jumping the last few feet to the ground.

"What was that?" Vaako asked, looking back up at the roof.

"I don't know, but I'm going to find out, is the rest of Hiriv Prime done with?" He asked, glancing back up at the roof.

"Just about, we need to round up a few more, but other then that, it's finished." Vaako reported and Riddick nodded, still looking disturbed. "Did you catch her name?"

"What? No, didn't ask." Riddick replied, wondering why he asked.

"Because she might come along easier if you didn't pet name her and called her by her real name." Vaako explained and jumped slightly when he heard a voice by his waist.

"My name is Jack, thanks for asking and I'm not going anywhere." Jack said, crossing her arms over her chest. "What's your name?" She asked Vaako, looking somewhat polite.

"Vaako. And this is-"

"Riddick, I know. She told me all about you," Jack said, nodding thoughtfully.

"She?" Riddick asked.

"Perhaps this is better done inside," Vaako noted, watching the troops attempt to listen to their conversation.

"Listen to the vampire, he knows what he's talking about." Jack said, making Vaako glare at her. "What? Vaako the Vampire, sounds good, doesn't it? And mommy says that being too pale is a bad thing, not enough…what's it called…" Jack trailed off, thinking.

_Vitamin D, Jack. _

"Right! Vitamin D!" She said proudly.

"Let's go." Riddick grunted and Jack held her ground. "Now, kid." He growled at her, but she still didn't move.

_Go with him, you'll be safe._

"Fine." Jack started walking, not sure how she felt about having to walk in between Vaako and Riddick. They neared the armada and Jack hesitated. These were the ships that killed her parents and she would have to be in them. She roughly wiped at tears that began to fall from her eyes and kept walking. Vaako looked at Riddick over Jack's head and motioned down to her, some deeper dormant feeling telling him that this was wrong, that a child her age should not cry. Riddick shook his head and Vaako was left with his thoughts.

_Interior decorator still must be alive…_Kyra dryly noted as they walked through the ship and Jack giggled quietly, making Riddick glare at her. She quieted down and pulled the straps of her bag tighter against her.

Finally they stopped in front of two dark metal doors, twisted in a way that made them look purely evil and if anything, the gates of hell. Jack stopped dead, this was getting really scary for her, she had seen the inside of this ship before, the doors and a throne room. She felt Kyra contemplating these thoughts before urging her to keep going.

"Come in, nothing is going to happen to you," Vaako said above her and she looked up, smiling weakly at him. She could tell this startled him.

The room had high ceilings, a few scattered chairs, a lounging couch and four tables that looked like pools. Jack stopped at one of them and looked down at her reflection in the pool that looked like it was black mercury. She blew slightly on it, mesmerized by the ripples that went through the liquid.

Jack then realized that the two men were watching her intently and she blushed slightly with embarrassment, backing up a few steps. Vaako gestured towards the couch and Jack walked over to it, sitting on it and taking off her bag. She kept it right next to her and waited for them to start talking.

"So, Jack, perhaps you can tell us what that…force was that knocked Riddick off the building." Vaako started and Jack tensed, she wasn't sure if she allowed to say something.

_Do you want me to speak for you? _Kyra asked, knowing that Jack wasn't too keen on Kyra possessing her body fully, but in a situation like this, she just might go with it. Jack nodded, not realizing how strange it looked to Riddick and Vaako, who glanced at each other. Swallowing, she relaxed completely, slumping over as if asleep. Riddick moved forward immediately only to freeze when her head lifted and a very familiar pair of eyes fiercely burned at him.

"Long time no see, Big Evil."

Thanks to everyone who reviewed, let me do a run down right here.

**XXXevilgrinXXX, TRO, njrd, IT (yeah, I'm still alive, kicking ass and taking names), Storyteller906, vintena (thank you, I will have to investigate your work), unknown, AliasSpyCrazy, BatPhace, tamekabu, SueBe (you're back! and yes, I pride myself on my grammar), Tish, lamyka, bima. **

**Thank you all, your reviews help me a lot. **


	7. From the Dead

**7.**

**From the Dead**

"Kyra," Riddick breathed, his beast awakening and snarling in a way it hadn't since Imam had informed him that Jack was in Crematoria. She was dead to him, long gone and his beast had changed. It wasn't an animal anymore, but a demon. A strong and ruthless one that ruled his mind and sadly, he let it. He had little left to fight for when she passed on, so he took the challenge of being a Necromonger lord and slowly, through the logic of the Necromongers, his beast was corrupted into a demon. Part of it changed, part of it died. Now, the dead part was slowly awakening.

"Riddick," she stood, crossing the room to him. "It truly has been a while, hasn't it Lord Marshall?" Her cold voice seemed very out of place from the young body it came from.

"You would do well not to insult him," Vaako hissed.

"Ah, and you, the lapdog, the pup. Does being Lord Marshall's bitch serve you well, Vaako?" She turned and questioned him.

"Kyra." Riddick ground out, his voice tense. "That is enough. Your problem is not with Vaako."

"And he defends him lovingly as well." She said, her cruel mocking tone agitating both the demon and beast. "But you are right, my problem is with you and always has been. So," she walked back to the couch and lay across it in a sensual pose that looked more than inappropriate for the young girl. "Tell me, how long did your personal restraint last before you decided that it wasn't a bad idea to wipe out the universe?"

"You are dead, Kyra, you haunt a different man." Vaako noted quietly.

"Physically I am reincarnated, spiritually I am here. As soon as Jack grows old enough I will do the same as I did in the past life and body." She explained, tracing an invisible design on the black wood of the couch.

"You speak as if you possessed the first Jack." Vaako pressed, curious.

"I did not possess her, no. But she created me as an identity for herself. The original Jack, she is the original owner of this body. It seems that Jack cannot be reincarnated without Kyra." Kyra continued, sighing deeply. This was far more complicated then she had planned it to be.

"What happens to Jack when you take over?" He asked, trying to figure out why Riddick was staying silent.

"She will be there, just dormant, as your beast is, Riddick." She turned to him and Vaako swore he saw a flash of shame and sorrow in her eyes. When he looked at Riddick, he swallowed his surprise to see the same.

Riddick could not express what he was thinking, it was hard enough sorting out his feelings and thoughts, much less voicing them. He wanted Kyra to be older, her body was too young for him to say something serious and believe that she would fully understand it. All he could see was her clearing eyes as she lay dying on the step beneath the throne, the blood and saliva dripping from her smooth lips, her auburn hair messed slightly with the violent treatment.

Vaako breathed deeply, this situation was going from bad to worse fast and it had to be changed.

"Riddick, there are matters that need your attention immediately and I believe Kyra and Jack would like to rest. Both have had a trying day." Vaako put a slight tone of urgency in his voice and Riddick heard it. He made a note to thank Vaako later for preventing a dangerous situation. Turning to Kyra, he expected a slighting insult, but he just saw a sleepy Jack, rubbing her eyes.

"Hi, Riddick. Can I sleep here?" She asked, pulling her bag over to her and opening it. Riddick raised an eyebrow when he saw Jack pull out a stuffed animal, hugging it to her chest.

"You'll need a better place to rest then that, if you'd be so kind to accompany me, Jack, I can lead you to a bed." Vaako said politely and Jack nodded sleepily, holding her stuffed animal.

Riddick followed Vaako and Jack to his rooms that had been cleaned of any trace of Dame Vaako. Yet their large bed remained in the heavily decorated alcove and that is where Riddick watched Jack pull the strange blankets over her. They left her but Riddick stopped right at the door, clenching his jaw when he heard sniffling from the bed. He motioned for Vaako to keep walking and when he was out of sight, he went back to the bed and found Jack curled up, crying quietly into her stuffed animal.

"Jack?" He asked, his beast mourning when he saw her eyes red with tears, her face torn with sadness.

"Hi," her voice cracked. Riddick sat down on the bed, all previous hints of his ruthlessness gone. Jack had softened him that quickly. "I shouldn't," she hiccupped, "cry, I know. But…mommy and daddy…are gone…and they aren't sleeping like they said Uncle Rob was in that box." She hiccupped again and Riddick bowed his head slightly. It had never mattered who had died in the conquering before this, never. "And Kyra says I'm not alone and I'm not," her voice raised in pitch then quieted again. "I've got her…but only," she sniffed again, "when I'm asleep. I'm lonely…and I can't sleep forever."

Riddick reached out and gathered Jack in his arms, not surprised when she reacted immediately and climbed directly into his lap. She cried against him and when she looked up, he knew he saw Kyra there and it were her eyes that were in pain. But when she had stopped crying, she looked up again and it was Jack.

"Riddick?"

"Hm?" He growled gently in response.

"Can you make me sleep forever?" The innocence he heard made something in him stop working, it made the demon pause and have its thoughts clouded. It was a question that had a clear subtlety to it that only she would not understand.

"You don't want to sleep forever. And you're not alone, I'm here and Vaako is, too." Riddick said softly and Jack nodded. "Go to sleep, Kyra is waiting, I bet."

"G'night, Riddick," she yawned and soon fell asleep. He tucked her in the same way he had done to Jack on the skiff. Only when she was completely asleep did he leave.

"Hi Kyra," Jack said, opening up her eyes in her dream landscape. Kyra smiled at her but didn't say anything, looking preoccupied and in thought. "You ok?"

"Yeah, fine." She replied softly, looking at the sky.

"I didn't mean to cry in front of him, really, I didn't-" She was cut off by Kyra shushing her and smoothing her hair down. Jack wrapped her arms around Kyra's waist, sniffling softly as the elder rubbed her back gently, looking down at her younger self.

"What happened to your parents wasn't your fault, but don't be so ready to blame Riddick or Vaako. While they are the figureheads of the army that did the deed, they didn't do it themselves. Do you understand?" She spoke in low tones, soothing ones that reduced Jack's crying and sniffling to occasional hiccups.

"Yeah, he isn't evil. Vaako isn't either…just…bad." Jack said and Kyra snorted.

"True, finding evil isn't easy and it is a much deeper concept then most of humanity is willing to accept," Kyra said, stopping when Jack looked up at her, definitely confused. "Sorry about that."

"It's ok. Can we go up in the tree?" She asked and Kyra nodded, waiting for Jack to move her hand into hers. They walked to one of the trees and Kyra swung up onto a branch, wrapping her legs around it and swinging down, holding her arms out for Jack. Her small hands grabbed Kyra's calloused ones and trusted her to pull her up and onto a branch. They relaxed, looking like sunning cats getting some shut eye.

"Kyra?" Jack's quiet voice made Kyra's eyelids flutter open.

"Hmm?" She asked, content to be relaxed.

"Tell me a good memory you have of Riddick." She requested, making Kyra wake up slightly. She tried to think of a good memory she had of him as Kyra, but realized that the only good ones she had were really when she was Jack. Her last memory was bittersweet, watching his eyes tear as hers darkened. The way he had shied away when he had asked her if she was still with him, as if he feared the imminent.

"I don't know, Jack, can't think of one right now. There are just a lot of memories stored together, I never really separated the good and the bad, it was just time we spent together. That in itself was good." She explained, sighing when she saw confusion cloud Jack's face.

"Ok…do you miss him?" She asked and Kyra sharply glanced at her, leaning up on one elbow.

"What do you mean?" She returned.

"Like, being around him. When dad went away on work trips, mom would say she missed him being there. Do you? Miss being there?" She elaborated in her innocent manner.

Kyra lay back on the branch and stretched again, looking at the sky through the branches and leaves. She had missed him terribly, but could only find insults and words of anger when she spoke to him. In truth she wanted to be in her own body, to be able to have him be with all of her, not just a reincarnated smaller half-version of her. She remembered how foggy her memory was after being converted to the Necromonger way, but she had felt a large consuming emptiness inside her and knew it was because he was not there. It matched the feeling that had quickly infected and spread in her when she saw him nearly dead on the runway in Crematoria.

"Kyra? Kyra, I think Vaako's trying to wake me up." Jack's voice interrupted her thoughts.

"Alright, see you later." She waved and watched Jack fade away. Sighing, she flipped onto her back and touched a branch with her hand, reveling in the roughness of the bark. She wanted to be in reality, not stuck here.


	8. Near Complete

**8.**

**Near Complete**

Jack pulled on the strange outfit, at least glad to be clean. It was like scales and she didn't really think she liked the feel of it, but Vaako had told her she had to wear it. And to do something with her hair, but she didn't really know what.

It was a black scaled dress that clung tightly to her form and she thought it hissed when she walked, but she tried not to notice. With Kyra's instruction, she pulled back her hair with the small comb-like hair piece. It was nearly a full circle but had small teeth that were meant to hold back the hair. She could pull back everything but a few strands in the front and with stubborn whining at Kyra, got to leave them there. She had noticed how the hair piece had strange dark gems in them, almost like grey diamonds. Shrugging, she went to the door and slipped out.

She stuck to the shadows and hoped no one would see her, but she was spotted by a woman. She glided over to Jack and smiled down at her, but neither Jack nor Kyra could find an insidious feel behind it.

"You must be young Jack," she said, her voice oddly harmonious and beautiful in such a depressing environment. "Let me introduce myself, I'm Dame Nawkon."

"Very nice to meet you," Jack said, trying to remember the crash course in manners her parents had tried to instill into her.

"I assume you are on your way to Lord Marshall?" She asked, holding out a slim and delicate hand. Jack slipped her smaller one into hers and let her lead the way, feeling she could trust this woman.

"Yep, and maybe some breakfast, too. What do you eat?" She asked and Dame Nawkon looked down at her, somewhat surprised.

"Well, it is whatever we are given. It doesn't matter really, what we eat here does not affect what happens in the Underverse." She explained and Jack felt a tweak of discontent from Kyra.

_They truly believe. _

As they walked, Jack looked up at Dame Nawkon and realized how beautiful she was, but the severe way of everything she had to be in the Necromonger society had changed that. Her high cheekbones, dark eyes, full lips tightened in a thin line of regal distaste, it all added up to something Jack knew she didn't want to be. What would happen to her here?

"My wife, you know this area is forbidden to you." A man stopped them. "You must have good…ah, it is she. I will take her from here."

Jack glanced up between them, thoroughly confused. If she was his wife, wasn't there supposed to be affection and love in between them? She saw nothing, just cold formalities and rules. Dame Nawkon dropped her hand and pushed her forward slightly. Jack wanted to hold onto someone's hand but looked at the metal cased glove that was the man's hand and decided against it.

"Bye," she called over her shoulder as she followed the solider.

"Is there no way she can be transferred?" Riddick asked, locking eyes with Vaako.

"Necromongers may have different souls but this is an unusual and unpredictable case! Never before, whether in humans or Necromongers, Furyans, Elementals, the list goes on, but never before has there been this mutual possession!" Vaako shot back.

"What do you mean, mutual possession?" Riddick questioned, a deep growl growing in his throat.

"The few documented and verified cases of such spirit possession are by force. The original soul of the body fights the intruder, just as any biological force. But here, there is no such evidence. If Kyra truly is Kyra, then it is a mutual possession, Jack does not reject or resist the possession and Kyra does not fight to be there." Vaako gestured with his hand, wondering if the archives had hidden anything from him on such possession. But he had double checked and threatened the keepers on knife-point, so he assumed this was true.

"Is it possible that Kyra is not in fact Kyra, but a demonic…" Riddick trailed off, not wanting to consider that the spirit that was in Jack wasn't the woman he had missed.

"Presence? I highly doubt it. They would fight for control, but remember what Jack said to you?" He asked and Riddick nodded. "That Kyra is only there in her sleep. Presumably a demonic spirit would be fighting night and day and not simply appear during the resting hours of Jack's life."

Vaako was about to continue when there was a knock at the door. It was ID'd as Nawkon and Jack, who were allowed in. Nawkon bowed and left, the door locking shut behind him.

Riddick allowed himself a moment to see Jack in such an outfit, easily seeing the traits that had passed onto her older form. She stood there nervously, fidgeting slightly and Vaako sighed. He hoped he didn't have to babysit her.

"Um, Riddick?" She asked.

"Yes?" He raised an eyebrow, wondering just who it was who was speaking, but by the downcast and nervous look, it was Jack.

"I'm kinda hungry."

Oh yes, that was the Jack he knew.

She had nearly eaten Imam out of house and home in New Mecca, at least while he was still there. Jack had had the appetite of a bear after hibernation and then some.

Jack grinned at Vaako and Riddick over her empty plate, along with the empty plates that she had easily eaten clean of any trace of food. Riddick shook his head, glancing at Vaako who scowled at Jack.

"Jack, could you let us talk to Kyra?" Riddick asked and the grin disappeared.

"I don't know, she seems…off today," Jack said, twisting her napkin.

"What do you mean, off?" Vaako leaned forward.

"Well, last night when we were talking, she was saying stuff I didn't understand. Just one or two things, it was strange." Jack said and Riddick was intrigued.

"In a different language you mean?" Vaako pressed and Jack shook her head.

"No no no, not that, just, she talked about you," she nodded at Riddick, "but weirdly. That and something about, I'm not sure, she said the concept of evil is deep and that human…what'd she call it…oh yeah, the concept of evil and how humanity can't accept it. I didn't really get it." Jack looked confused just by talking about and now both men were interested. What had Kyra been telling Jack?

"Could you try to get her to talk to us?" Vaako asked and Jack shrugged, but soon fell limp in the chair. Riddick started as he had before, but Vaako lay his hand on Riddick's arm.

Clouded green eyes sharpened and blinked.

"Good morning, Riddick. Vaako, both a pleasure to see." Kyra's voice tiredly sounded from Jack's body. "Jack didn't quite understand what I was getting at last night, it isn't very important," she lied, knowing that Riddick would think it very important if both she and Jack believed him to be not at all evil, just in need of someone to pull him in the right direction.

"Hm, indeed," Vaako was unconvinced but wasn't quite in the mood to push for more information. "Now, we asked for you to see if you truly were Kyra, or Jack's reformed soul I suppose. Spirit, what have you," he finished lamely, gesturing vaguely. He inwardly frowned at that, he must stop acting so foppishly.

"Of course I'm Kyra. I am no demonic presence, nor am I a kinder spirit with twisted intentions posing to be her, I am indeed Kyra's soul. How I got to Jack I do not know." She snapped at first, but her tone calmed as she continued to explain. "I have a question for you."

"Go on," Vaako urged her, wondering why Riddick was staying silent. He was leveling a analytical glare at Kyra, who he was sure was noticing it as well but didn't let on.

"Can you get me out of this body? Into another one?" She asked and Riddick blinked into consciousness.

"But you said you would wait until Jack grew." He reasoned and she shook her head.

"That is for too long for the work that must be done here. Not to mention Jack would be happier if I had a physical form." As would Riddick, Kyra thought to herself.

"Can you transfer your spirit? You did project your body out of hers on Hiriv, but that was for a moment. Can you latch onto a dead body?" Vaako asked.

"Yes…and no. I think I can do it, but on one very vital condition," she glanced at Riddick.

"Which would be…" Vaako glared at the young girl's body, hoping the elder woman inhabiting it would feel it.

"If I had my original body."


	9. The Light of the Darkest

**9.**

**The Light of the Darkest**

"Always planning ahead, aren't you, Vaako?" Kyra's voice smoothly echoed through the small passageway, curling around and enticing his senses in a way no woman ever had.

"With Dame Vaako as your wife, you would too," he said quietly, lip twitching in distaste at Kyra's scornful laughter. It wasn't that she was possibly the only woman able to handle Riddick, but Riddick be the only man even remotely capable of handling her.

As they descended deeper into the frigid depths of the Necropolis, Kyra remembered in silence the look of hope mixed with anticipation that Riddick's eyes held when she said it would be possible for her to move into her old body. She had based suspicions of Riddick's feelings towards her and, she admitted to herself, she would respond just as eagerly. Shaking the thoughts from her head, lest Jack catch them, Kyra followed Vaako.

They finally came to an opening in the dark passageway that was eerily lit with blue lights that Kyra thought was blue flame, but she wasn't sure. She did all she could to block these sights from Jack, knowing that when they parted, the visions would send her into nightmares. Tall vaulted ceilings clashed with the common Necromonger style by copying old Gothic architecture, similar to an elegant crypt that would lie beneath a cathedral. Indeed it was a crypt, it seemed to Kyra that all past important purifiers, commanders and the like were buried here.

"Where are the Lord Marshalls buried?" She asked suddenly and Vaako sent her a cold glare. "I mean, your dedicate your entire lives to your death, so the body of your lord should be kept sacred and untouched, shouldn't I?" She questioned, her voice a little more demanding.

"Those not of the faith can know not the fate of a Necromonger's physical being." He growled and Kyra wondered if there was a written scripture of the Necromonger faith. Of course she asked.

"Do I look like a Purifier to you?" He turned on her suddenly, his anger evident, but she narrowed her eyes at him and returned his anger but in a cold gaze. His voice echoed off the high ceilings and he suddenly looked ashamed, dipping his head low in embarrassment. But he turned back around and kept walking, glancing at passing tombs.

"Those of the faith should be willing to share to those of possible conversion," she said, using his language from before. Or had she known that from somewhere? She followed him, glancing at the passing graves.

"You speak as if you know the scripture itself, woman, it is possible. Memories from your conversion could still be with you," Vaako replied quietly, his voice now more interested than angry.

"Question about that, Vaako. If I do successfully manage to bring my soul back to my body, will I still be a Necromonger?" She thought his was a reasonable question, unlike her pestering ones from before.

"Once again, I am no Purifier, but it is possible I guess." His voice lowered with a sort of reverence as they passed a series of highly decorated tombs. Kyra stopped to look at these, but was interrupted when Vaako grabbed her arm and pushed her forward.

"It is unwise to gaze upon the fully dead and passed on." He said, his voice getting lower.

"Why?" She asked, gazing up into his harsh eyes.

"I do not know, it was just something I was told when I first came to this place." He remarked, looking back down at her. "Hurry, Riddick will not like how long we've taken here."

They walked the rest in silence, twisting through smaller passages until they reached a wall. Kyra was about to make a smart remark when Vaako took out his jagged dagger, not unlike the one she had seen Riddick kill Lord Marshall with, and slipped it into a nearly unnoticeable crack in the wall to their right. Five blocks ground forth from the wall they were facing, the black smooth stone shining with the reflected light. Vaako stared at them briefly before pushing them back in. He pushed different ones, similar to a number security code, Kyra supposed.

The wall was silent until it drew up and allowed passage to the two. It closed behind them and Kyra shivered slightly when she felt the immediate change in temperature. It was near freezing, the frost on the walls and carved statues could attest to that. Vaako seemed unaffected by it as he led her to a single tomb that rested in a room that was lit by the natural light of the ice. In a black open tomb, Kyra started when she saw her own body. Her lips were tinged blue, her hands white with no blood and her entire presence seemed without life.

"Why the secrecy?" She whispered without even realizing it.

"We Necromongers do live for our death, but it doesn't mean we will not desecrate something that seems to offend the faith, even if it is a fellow dead." He replied, sounding almost ashamed. "And yes," Vaako said, anticipating her next question, "Riddick did visit here. Often in the beginning but soon he never even came near the original passageway."

She nodded, looking at herself so cold and asleep. A warm rush of anticipation went through her just thinking of being able to be back in her own body, where she belonged. She had never much liked the idea of having to take over Jack's.

They had transported the body into a closed off med bay, whose doors were fiercely protected by Nawkon, whose mere presence was enough to send any reasonable Necromonger scrambling for safer grounds. Riddick waited in one room, his expression unreadable as he saw Kyra's body laid out on a black operating table, her cold skin making the black stone even colder. He listened as Kyra discussed a few matters with Vaako, who was quieter then usual.

He didn't realize that she was standing in front of him until she spoke, making him startle slightly. Her eyes were full of caution, but it inwardly pleased him that he didn't smell an ounce of fear on her. When she had wanted something, she never allowed fear into the equation.

"Riddick, are you going to stay?" She asked, her voice light.

He nodded and looked at Vaako, who was staring at Kyra's lifeless body. No doubt an action like this would question his faith in the Necromonger way, but it was good enough that he was even helping. Riddick didn't want to think what a Purifier would say, although he wouldn't object to the one who had committed suicide on Crematoria. A fellow Furyan's thought would not have hurt this situation.

"Alright," she laid a small hand on his wrist, "I think this is going to work. Promise me one thing, though."

"Anything." He replied, surprised at the open desperation that laced his tone.

"Believe in this, believe in me. I can't have any doubt about this, not from myself or you, got it?" She asked and Riddick nodded.

Vaako stepped out of the room, watching the door close behind Jack's body. He stood next to Riddick, lost in his thoughts. He firmly decided that if Riddick was staying, he would stay too.

"Jack?" Kyra walked through the fields of Jack's mind for what she hoped would be the last time. She was looking for her younger self and found her fast asleep under the tree they had climbed on. She knelt and gently touched Jack's shoulder, who blinked sleepily before fully awakening.

"Thought you'd never come," she yawned, not noticing Kyra's grin at her comment. "What's going on?"

"I'll be leaving you soon, Jack. There's a chance I will be able to inhabit my original body, so I won't be in here bothering you like this." She said bluntly, slightly surprised at Jack's lack of response.

"But, you'll be…alive?" She asked and Kyra nodded.

"In a physical form you can be with when you're awake." She explained further and Jack nodded, but Kyra caught a twinkle of a tear in the corners of her eyes.

"I'm gonna miss you, Kyra," she mumbled, looking down.

"Hey, it might not work out and I'll be right back here." _I think._ She added silently, not sure what would happen if the transfer didn't work and then she would be blocked off from access into Jack's mind. "You have to stay asleep, though, alright?"

"Gotcha. Bye Kyra!" She hugged her before letting her go. Jack watched Kyra's form shimmer before fading completely. "Good luck." She whispered, laying back down in the soft field and grass.

"What's taking so long?" Riddick demanded, glaring at Vaako.

"It's been ten minutes, this could take days, Riddick, calm yourself." Vaako replied, his tone even and almost bored. The ex-convict leveled him a glare that would've sent any merc into a coma, but it slid off the Necromonger like water off glass.

"What exactly is she doing?" He asked suddenly, looking at the door. He almost felt unnerved by what was happening behind it - it wasn't something his beast could relate to. Switching bodies? Swapping souls? The Necromonger faith was strange enough, but if this meant having Kyra back, he felt he could deal with it.

He mused how a convict like himself, who once made one-on-one murder his hobby and living, was solidified in the universe with two simple ideas. Life and death. Back then there was no in between, either he was chasing his target or it was dead at his feet as he pulled his shiv out of the sweet spot. That was his unbreakable faith, as Imam had his own god, he had his own faith in life and death, not to mention survival. So when the Necro soldier he had stabbed in the back walked into Helion Prime meeting hall without any visible pain, his faith was shaken a bit. But he had killed him, so he knew that in all matters, human or Necro, humans could be killed. But by stealing the soul of the man who had protested conformity to the Necromonger faith? Riddick did not like that.

It had always been life, death and survival for him but to someone like Vaako, it was the survival of life in order to achieve death. Any convict in Ursa Luna, Crematoria or Butcher's Bay would laugh and then deck someone who wanted to 'achieve' death. You avoided death to live, to be part of the world, but Vaako sought his timed death, his predestined death that would lead him to some sort of glory beyond this world. Riddick shook his head, he had never quite understood the theory behind it.

Growling softly to himself, he wondered what he would do if this worked. He didn't want to imprison Kyra here, in the place that she had died, but it was her decision. He suddenly felt that going back to the faster life of chasing or be chased would be a welcomed change. But who would chase him? Most of the universe recognized him instantly, by name, voice or picture alone. Smirking, he bet that if Toombs got out of Crematoria, he would want a piece of his Necromonger Lord ass.

Thinking back on previous conversations with Kyra, he knew that she didn't quite approve of his conquering…habits and that she would want him to stop and change. Would he then leave that to Vaako? The Necromonger lord and commander that was without a Dame. As a side thought, Riddick believed that Vaako was better off without a woman to tie him down with her ambitions. He was sure that Dame Vaako had held no interest in what Vaako found to be most intellectually stimulating. Perhaps he could hand the power to both Vaako and Nawkon. He was sure Vaako was wondering what could keep him so quiet and deep in thought.

"Will it work?" He asked suddenly, making Vaako glance at him.

"Kyra is strong, but we will see. I don't know whether the spiritual form can re-grip a physical from." He replied, running his thumb down the right side of his jaw.

"Why were you made a Commander? You'd make a better book-writer." Riddick noted, suddenly realizing that he had never seen a library, a true library with books that had pages.

"We record all with our faith, we have no need of books." The Necromonger said coldly in return, as if Riddick had insulted him.

The man in question shook his head and kept silent, hoping that more time had passed then he realized and that Kyra would be walking out of that door any second. But the door stayed sealed and shut, much to his disappointment.

**Thanks to everyone who reviewed, sorry about the cliffhangers! Just can't resist them, that's all. Do we like the thoughtful Riddick? Yes? No?**


	10. Of Touch

**10.**

**Of Touch**

Kyra knew she didn't know how this was going to work, but it had to be from this point. When Jack was asleep, Kyra was awake but neither was in contact with the other. It was that same feeling she got before she first stepped into that field. What was this place, anyway? It was completely black, but then it was also completely white, it was an entire nebulous of colours but it was also just a clear mass of liquid that she could breathe in. Kyra realized that there really was no one way to describe this place. Was it that concept of purgatory? Was she on some level of that getting to her body?

That's when it hit her.

How was she going to find her body?

"Riddick, I believe it will work, so if you would be so kind as to stop looking at me like your next kill, I would be very pleased." Vaako said quietly, not even glancing at the other man. He was very volatile right now and the Necromonger lord was sure that the last thing Riddick would do would be to leave this area and work off some of his energy. It would mean being farther away then he already was from Kyra.

Which, he knew perfectly well by now, was completely unacceptable.

"If you're so fucking confident then why can I smell doubt on you like greed on a merc?" Riddick snarled, his muscles tensing.

"I realize that Kyra requested that there be no doubt on this end, but I do not know what exactly she is doing nor do I think she knows. So there will be doubt regardless." Vaako breathed deeply, risking a look at Riddick.

He stayed quiet and just stood, beginning to pace the length of the room. Vaako wasn't going to ask him to stop, because that would mean it would be his problem to deal with the Furyan's excess energy. But perhaps he could calm the convict otherwise.

"What will you do after this, Riddick?" He questioned softly, his strong voice stopping Riddick in his tracks.

"I don't know yet. Probably wherever Kyra would like to go." He replied finally, settling back into his pacing, but it wasn't as restless as before.

"Where would that be?" He knew he had to keep asking questions as if Kyra was definitely going to pull through. It would keep Riddick occupied and positive. Vaako didn't want to imagine his mood if Kyra got lost in the process.

"Well, no where dark with long nights, that's for sure," Riddick started, a small smirk changing the normally stoic expression. "She isn't much of a girl who likes extreme condition planets, like Crematoria, so maybe a tropical or temperate climate."

He had sat down across from Vaako now.

"Do you think she'll want to return to Helion Prime?" Vaako asked.

"Yes, to see Imam's wife and daughter, she'd like that. Although she won't stay." His silver gaze had turned darker, almost tarnished.

"Why?"

"She may be fucked up, hell, she might be on the same level as me, but we're similar in the way that we don't like being caged. She will want to get out, to keep moving. If she finds a place she likes and feels safe in, there's a chance she'll want to stay." Riddick smirked, Kyra, now the woman who had changed from Jack and ended up being part of her reincarnated self. Yep, she was on her way to being one very screwed up individual.

"Are you sure it is she who wants to feel safe?" Vaako had to push, he was starting to get his fellow lord to open up.

"What do you mean?" There it was again, the unsure spark of feeling that Vaako had never had with his Dame. Spark of undeniable hatred, yes, but not was Riddick was feeling.

"I believe it would be she who wants to keep _you_ safe. Do you realize all the trouble she has gone through to get to you? In this life and the previous?" He reasoned with himself, inwardly smirking at his sudden thought that he may have a death wish.

Jack groaned and opened her eyes. She had a pounding headache, as if something had been ripped out of her skull and that empty space was stuffed with something numbing and unpleasant. She didn't feel like getting up, so she flopped her head to the side, letting her deep breathes relax her body. She frowned when she saw a body lying not too far from her.

She recognized it.

Kyra? Was that Kyra?

For someone who was dead, her body was in excellent condition. The toning on her muscles was still evident, her muscular form still present and the only thing missing was the flow of life.

"Kyra?" She feebly called, her throat dry.

She wasn't surprised that she didn't get a response. But she kept talking anyway.

"I don't know where you are, but I'd bet you'd like company. When dad went away on trips and stuff mom liked it if I just talked. I guess it made her miss him less." She didn't feel awkward at all, just laying there, talking to a corpse.

"Riddick's okay, Kyra. I mean, he's got to stop what he's doing, but he is ok. Vaako is weird, just…weird. I wish I knew more about Riddick."

Kyra started when she heard a voice and she went for her shivs.

That weren't there.

But when she listened closer, she recognized the voice. It was Jack's. Talking? To her corpse? Kyra smiled gently, if anyone would talk to a corpse, it would be her. As the voice continued, a pulsing wave of something licked out at her through the unidentifiable mass she was in.

Kyra watched it and realized it was like a pitch wave of a sound. The sound was Jack's voice and the arcs in the wave were the intonations in her voice. That thing was Jack's voice. It was leading somewhere.

She followed it. Kyra couldn't follow what Jack was saying, though. Something about Riddick, though. Just his name made Kyra want to go faster, but she couldn't. She didn't know how to, either.

"Hold it." Riddick stood and Vaako tensed, looking up at the other man. "You hear that?"

The Necromonger strained his hearing until he heard a faint voice carrying on a conversation in the next room. It was Jack's. He stood as well, walking to the door and putting his ear on the door, listening.

"It seems that Jack is awake. Kyra's state seems stable, I believe Jack would've somehow let us know otherwise." Vaako diagnosed, turning back to face Riddick.

The man in question replied with a deep growl.

Kyra was breathing heavily, if she was breathing at all. She felt exhausted, but she knew that she had to stay awake here. Every part of her was either burning, icy numb or as heavy as titanium. The pain was terrible, but she wasn't sure if she was even feeling it at the same time.

Her feet dragged and the pulse wave was constant, but her fluttering eyelids blurred it and her head kept dipping. The voice, whose was it again? She couldn't remember it, but there was a sense of familiarity.

Had she been here too long?

Where was she?

Kyra could barely lift her head and when she did, her look was one of complete confusion. She looked at her hands, not realizing that she had sank to her knees. Her hands seemed foreign to her, what did they do? They dropped to her sides and all feeling was quickly disappearing. Images flashed before her and she wasn't aware of anything being attached to anything.

A coffin? No, it was a plastic and steel shell. There was a needle in her arm? Other people around her seemed to be asleep.

What was this place?

A man, dressed in robes.

Who was he?

Screeches, all inhuman. Swooping of wings. It was fear with wings, but none of that registered.

When was this?

A scream followed by a roar, the smell of sulfur.

Where was that?

Silver eyes.

Kyra slumped completely, her body thudding, the pulse wave still going steady. Her hands twitched, but she was relaxing, welcoming that oblivion.

But no, she couldn't, not yet. She had to do something, she had to. What was it?

She opened her mouth and from nowhere came a yell that she poured everything into. Chaos, confusion, fear and pain.

"Riddick!"

"Riddick!" The word came from Kyra's mouth and Jack screamed. Before she could call for anyone, the ex-convict burst through the door, ignoring her and going straight to Kyra.

"Kyra!" He yelled, grabbing hold of her cold corpse. His stomach turned and he could feel his beast panic, he was panicking.

He smelled death.

"No! Kyra!" His voice was unsteady, panicked and scared.

He never noticed Vaako sweep into the room and take Jack away, leaving the two alone.

Riddick maneuvered himself beneath her body, holding it against himself. He buried his face in her hair, her name a mantra on his tongue. He was completely overwhelmed by her smell, her body and the momentary sound of her voice.

Her already dead body seemed to grow colder as he held it. Swallowing, he wrapped his arms tighter around her, holding her as tightly as he could without hurting her.

He had to feel her warm breath on his skin again.

He had to hear her voice again. He needed to hear her heart beat.

She coughed.

Kyra doubled over suddenly, the muscle movement and sudden life making her hack up whatever she had in her. It was dry, there was nothing.

But she wasn't gone.

She couldn't get up, but she looked around. The pulse-wave was gone and she was still in the mass that was everything and nothing. Kyra knew she needed strength and she needed it soon. What she had now was a second chance and she wasn't going to waste it.

Her body convulsed with a spasm, but she gritted her teeth and pulled herself up into a sitting position. She had legs, she should use them. But try as she might, they wouldn't respond to her demands. First it was her feet, then her ankles and she felt her legs completely going unresponsive.

She didn't want to think what would happen if this reached her lungs.

Kyra began to drag herself with her arms, wriggling on her stomach, moving towards something she felt was right. Something that was safe.

The feeling was slowly making its way up and Kyra couldn't destroy the fear that was eating at her now. Not only that, but she had reached an end. A wall. She had to go through it, or around it, but she was just a wall away.

That's when she felt something brush across the inside of her wrist. A waft of scent came after it and a calculating set of silver eyes blazed in her mind.

She felt her breathing stop. No, no, not yet! She had come so far, what was happening?

With shaking hands he lifted one of her arms, his powerful hand cradling her smaller one. Riddick bent his head and kissed the inside of her wrist. There was no denying it now. He copied his action with the other wrist, but he carefully folded her arm over her stomach.

He held her hand in both of his, memorizing every detail that he was sure had never left his mind. The times he had watched her nimble hands at work, repairing a ship he had stolen. She had known that he was leaving her, leaving her with the holy man, but she had helped anyway.

Riddick lifted her right hand in his and intently observed the creases of the inside of her hands. His thumb rubbed over her palm, in slow motions that he had used to keep his hands from freezing when he was hightailing it from mercs on the ice planets.

He wrapped his left arm around her stomach and as he did, he looked down at her face and he realized that even asleep Kyra looked dangerous.

Suddenly he glanced up and watched with evanescent hope as her cold fingers slowly closed around his thumb, tightening with the smallest of strengths. She shifted in his grip, her head pushing against his chest. Her eyes were still closed as she took her first few harsh breathes, each sounding less painful then the last.

He reached over to a table next to them and grabbed a bag of water that was supposed to be hooked up to a tube that would regulate the amount she took in. Holding it in one hand, he tore off the cap with his teeth, spitting it out to the side. Carefully he held it to her mouth and couldn't be more relieved when her left hand, although severely trembling, came up to hold the bag. She eagerly latched onto it with her mouth, quickly emptying the contents. He tossed it to the floor when she was done and then just watched her for a moment.

She had readjusted herself, but still held onto his right hand, not letting it be pulled out of hers.

"Kyra? You with me?" He asked, his voice quiet as he felt her blood begin to pulse constantly in the hand he still held.

He was rewarded with two eyes of the most vivid green opening and watching him watching her.

**Thanks to everyone who has reviewed this story:**

**XXXevilgrinXXX – "cry-in-my-beer thoughtful"…I like that. **

**TRO – I was going to stop this chapter at: "He smelled death." But I can't be that cruel. **

**bima – body switch now! **

**lamyka – about the architecture, I meant for it to be that those particular crypts were in gothic, contrasting with the baroque. But glad to know I have an architect on hand. **

**Brimseye – No, I can't make it a regular habit. He's not that kind of guy. **

**InanasChild – But but! Read my response to TRO. **

**MissBe – Thank you, I'm glad you enjoyed it. **

**BatPhace – Glad you liked the thoughtful Riddick. I had fun with that. **

**Jen – Of course it had to, I can't be mean like that. Well…I could've been…**

**riddickluver9876 – Hope you liked the way I had her come back. **

_**NOTE: I am considering finishing the story here, but if there a mass movement for another chapter, do say it in the review. I already have another story in the works, but I will write ONE more chapter. Let's focus on that word ONE, not two, and certainly not a sequel. **_

_**-shamrock920**_


	11. Be Not Afraid

**11.**

**Be Not Afraid **

"Vaako, where are we going?" Jack asked as she was being carried princess-style out of the room she had been sharing with Kyra. "Is Kyra gonna be ok?"

He was silent as he waited for the door to the med bay to open, revealing a confused Nawkon, who raised an eyebrow at his Lord. Both of them ignored Jack's incessant questions, speaking in quiet tones over her head.

"Jack, Nawkon here is going to take you to Dame Nawkon, you remember her, don't you?" He asked slowly, as if speaking to a younger child.

"Yep, she was pretty. Like my mom." She said, not seeing the pained expression that crossed both Nawkon's and Vaako's face as she slid from Vaako's arms to the floor. It had seemed that once word got out that this human's, non-converted child, parents were dead because of them, something had sparked.

An unknown sympathy was felt towards the child and many Necromongers, man and female, Purifier and Commander alike, were struggling with emotions they had believed to be dead.

"Vaako?" She asked, tugging on his hand. As he looked down at it, he was thrown back to his life before conversion. A smaller hand in his – a hand that depended on him completely. He shook the thoughts from his head and pushed her slightly towards Nawkon. "Is Kyra gonna be ok?"

"We can only wait, Jack. Go with Nawkon," he nodded towards the other man. After a motionless moment he sighed. "And yes, you can hold his hand."

He ignored the look of shock Nawkon had, amused by the view of a small child, eyes and face alive with complete life, holding onto the iron-clad hand of a Necromonger commander, whose cool demeanor was shattered by her small actions. They walked down the hall together and Vaako was thankful that for a moment someone else could deal with the child's endless questions.

Vaako slowly turned back into the med bay, wishing he still had a faith, a god, to send a prayer to. After the sound of Kyra's call, he knew that both she and Riddick would need it.

They could not have stared at each other long enough and even then all the words that they wanted to share with the other could not be said.

"I'm with you," she said finally, her voice still hoarse from disuse. She growled quietly as she tested her arms, hands, legs and feet, making sure they still worked. "Being dead is not something I want to experience again." She mumbled, pushing her head back against Riddick's chest.

She closed her eyes momentarily and snapped them open when she felt a panic tenfold come from her human pillow. Kyra looked up to see Riddick watching her intensely, with a fear that she was familiar with. It wasn't a fear of the unknown, but the same kind that a child looks at a parent who seems to be leaving them. The fear of loneliness.

"Hey," she said, interlocking her fingers with his. "I'm not going to leave, I'm here. And I know you don't do promises, so I swear to you that I will not ever leave you alone." Kyra finished by raising her other hand and resting it on the left side of his face. In a moment of rarity, he leaned against her hand, making her smile.

He could have never been more grateful when she didn't recoil when he faced her hand and kissed it. Nor could he have been more surprised when she broke free of his grip, dragged her body into a sitting position and kissed him fully on the mouth. Before a second had passed they were wrapped around each other and both knew that they truly would never be alone again.

_**Five years later…**_

Riddick had never truly slept.

But as time passed, the reasons changed. In the beginning, it was survival – if he slept, he could be killed. As got older, went through various slams and grew into a hardened killer, the reason stayed the same, but it was to stay on top of the game. If he slept, he could miss out. Of course, fate tossed him a throw he could have never predicted and before he realized what had happened, he stayed awake to protect a small cross-dressing kid who shadowed him.

And if that wasn't strange enough, he was now awake for a different reason.

"Kyra, Kyra," he quietly said, but the tone was not without urgency. He shook her again, only to receive a groan of displeasure and a string of muffled curses.

She looked up at him through bleary eyes, her hand still resting on his stomach. He had to take a second to appreciate her look of messy uncaring, but it quickly turned back into his original intent.

"Think they're ok?" He asked, not a hint of sarcasm in his voice.

"Riddick," she closed her eyes for a second and sighed. "They are just fine. But if you want to be anal about it, go and check." She added, annoyance evident.

"K, be right back," he said, up and out of bed in record timing. He was out the door before Kyra had dropped her head back onto the pillows.

Now she couldn't sleep.

She had always been a bad sleeper. From the beginning, even as a baby, she was told she had never slept long. When she was a girl, she had been afraid of what would happen if she slept, especially what would happen to her. After her experience with cyro-sleep and T-2, sleeping became less of an option for her. But Riddick had been there and with him, she could sleep. When he wasn't in one of his moods as he was now.

Kyra sat up and tossed her legs over the side of their bed, taking a moment to find some rationality before getting up. It was a quick walk down the hallway and the scene that was before her made her forget any annoyance.

Riddick stood in the room, his eyes sweeping over two sleeping forms without stop. He would glance towards the windows every few seconds, glaring at them. But the two asleep had no idea that they were being watched and peacefully slept on.

Kyra walked into the room, laying a hand on his bare arm. He glanced down at her as she slipped into his embrace, breathing deeply.

"See? They are fine, just like I said." Kyra looked up at Riddick, who still seemed suspicious.

"The windows, perfect entrance for a-"

"Riddick, they are sleeping with their backs to the wall, just as you taught them. It isn't as if they don't know who are you and the danger they could be in." She replied, a tight tone making him uncomfortable.

"I'm just worried." He admitted, swallowing deeply.

"Also, anyone who does try to come in here, it isn't you they need to worry about," she remarked as she stepped away from his embrace and to one of the beds.

There was a young boy sleeping in it, his sheets and blankets tangled about his form. She reorganized him and his sheets in a way only a mother could, without waking him up. Kyra bent down and kissed his forehead and standing, looked to the other bed. A younger girl slept there, her one arm holding a stuffed cat. Kyra brushed her hair back with her hands, keeping it off her delicate neck.

"Definitely not you they have to worry about," she said again, looking up at Riddick and smiling at him. "No father is better at protecting then a mother, animals and humans alike." Kyra added, walking back to Riddick, who still stood looking at the windows.

"Don't know about that, Kyr," he replied, using her shortened name. "We could both be pretty nasty when it comes to protecting our kids."

"Either way, it's time to get back to sleep, we've got quite the day ahead of us." She remarked, tugging on his arm. He gave in and followed her back to their room.

Kyra awoke to the sounds of a natural disaster in the kitchen. Grinning, she quickly got up, making sure to look not too hassled. Last night Riddick truly wasn't able to sleep, even after checking on the kids, so an exhaustive distraction had been needed. And if anyone could tire him out in bed, it was Kyra.

She followed the sounds down the stairs and into the kitchen, laughing at the sight she saw there. Kyra had to lean against the wall so she wouldn't fall down from laughing so hard.

Riddick was trying to make breakfast as well as control two kids whose mission was to annoy and distract their dad as much as possible without getting in trouble. At the moment he had his daughter, Shazza, wrapped around one of his legs and she was sitting on his foot and gripping on like a koala. His son, Eric, was stealing ingredients for the food when Riddick wasn't looking, although Kyra knew full well that Riddick knew exactly what he was up to.

The trio had all looked at her when she laughed and kneeling down, she stopped laughing and just grinned.

"Shazza, leave daddy alone! You too, Eric." She called and Shazza quickly untangled herself and ran to her mother's open arms, holding on tight as she stood. Kyra easily held her daughter and then held out her free hand to Eric. He came to her too but Kyra gave him a calculating look.

"Give it back to your father, Eric." She told him, but he shook his head.

"I don't have anything, mom!" He insisted and glared at his sister when she told Kyra that he had an egg in his pocket.

"C'mon Eric, you want to have breakfast don't you?" She asked and he relented, walking back to Riddick and giving him the egg that was miraculously unharmed.

"Suppose so," he mumbled, going back to Kyra.

"See, not that hard. So," she said, leading him over the table. She sat Shazza down in one of the seats and helped Eric into another, kissing the tops of their heads as she did so. "You know who is visiting today?"

"Jackie!" They both shouted together.

"Yep, but you know who else is coming?" She asked, setting out dishes and silverware.

"Well, usually General and Lady come with Jackie…" Eric said.

"How many times have I told you that their names aren't actually General and Lady?" Kyra asked, rolling her eyes. Children would be children and she was sure that Jack was behind this.

"Anyone else?" Shazza asked, glancing back at her dad who had gone back to making breakfast.

"One more." Her mother replied, placing the glasses on the table.

"Uncle Vaako!" Eric shouted, grinning madly. "Remember what we did last time, Shaz?" He asked his sister, who nodded. "Yes! He hasn't visited in forever!"

"Wonder why." Riddick quietly growled, but only Kyra caught it.

"You have to be nice to him this time. Please, you know it wasn't very nice of you to move his shade. Not to mention he looks ridiculous with a sunburn," she added, making Eric and Shazza laugh.

"K, won't do that, but doesn't mean-" Eric was cut off by a plate of malformed pancakes being placed in front of him. He glared and watched as dad put a plate of perfectly round pancakes in front of Shazza. "Why does she get the good ones? Daaaaad!"

"Don't complain, it's still food," Riddick replied, taking the moment to give a good morning kiss to Kyra, who returned it eagerly.

"Ew, lost my appetite," Eric mumbled, only to be swatted on the back of his head by Riddick.

"Then," Kyra pulled away from Riddick, "If you're not hungry, I'll gladly eat your food," she pretended to move in to take his plate and alarmed, he guarded it.

"Just kidding, mom!" He nearly squeaked and quickly got to eating.

Kyra left him and his sister at the table, returning to Riddick who was back at the stove. She rested her head on his shoulder and he kissed the crown of her head, slipping a free arm around her waist.

"Who know you could be so talented? Dad, cook, last Lord Marshall, it really is quite impressive." She joked quietly and he sent her a gentle glare.

"Chocolate chips?" He asked and felt her nod against his shoulder. "Course you want chocolate chips, why did I even ask?" He shook his head, glancing back at the table to see that both Shazza and Eric were still eating. "Today's the anniversary you know. Fourth year."

"I know, I got at least twenty messages this morning from various converts. Think we did the right thing, Riddick," she used his old name, one that she used only in private. It was safer if she just referred to him as Richard outside. That and if it slipped to Eric and Shazza, they could tell their friends, who would tell their parents and then there would be a mess.

After Kyra had woken up, she had worked with the Purifiers to find a way to turn every Necromonger back. They had finally accomplished it and were surprised to see that nearly every Necromonger wanted to convert back. It had been four years ago that it was successfully completed and Necromongers became humans again. Many of them went to the conquered planets and helped rebuild them, which had been very good following Riddick's order to disband all Necromonger military force. He and Vaako had stepped down from power as well and the Necromonger Empire was no more.

"Probably. Though Vaako isn't too pleased. Thinks he misses the ships the most." He joked and Kyra laughed quietly.

"That was probably some of the ugliest architecture I've seen." She was about to say something when she caught Eric out of the corner of her eye. "ERIC! You put that syrup-covered fork on our your plate and AWAY from your sister's hair!" She called sharply. "Now, Eric!" She glared at him and he quickly put down his fork, glowering at his sister who stuck her tongue out at him.

"Keep that tongue in your mouth, Shazza." Riddick called and both of them got wide-eyed. He hadn't even been facing them and he knew!

"Show-off," Kyra muttered under her breath.

"Only for you," he replied, taking her entirely in his arms and kissing her. They both ignored the kids' exclamations, just content to finally have a life they could call their own.

_**Finis.**_

**Hope you all enjoyed the story! There will be another one in the works soon, so I won't be gone too long.**

**Apologies for the latest of the late updates! **


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